TEHRAN (Iran News) – Chairman of Iran-UAE Joint Chamber of Commerce Mr. Erfan Shajeri says according to the official statistics, Iran’s imports from the UAE have been 6.87m tons worth of $8.596b in the first seven months of the current year which shows 169% growth in terms of weight and 82% in terms of value comparing to the same period last year.
Speaking to ILNA, Shakeri talked about the latest condition of trade between Iran and the UAE and said considering developments and longtime relation between Iran and the UAE, regardless of political disputes in recent years, the relation has been deep and therefore the outlook of trade development between the two states is predictable.
He added that according to the official statistics, the trade volume of Iran and the UAE in the first seven months has been $11.186b that some $8.569b of the figure accounts for Iran’s imports and the remaining $2.59b is the UAE’s share of imports from Iran.
Shakeri noted that Iran imported 6.87m tons of goods from the UAE worth of $8.596b which shows 169% growth in terms of weight and 82% in value. He said while Iran’s imports from the UAE have grown by 82% its exports have declined to 22% in weight but 12% growth in value.
He reiterated that since most of the imported goods are used in production, the statistics show the rise of the role of the UAE in Iran’s domestic production and at the same time Iran’s exports to other countries which are carried via the UAE have declined.
Shakeri admitted that the UAE has slumped in the ranking of export destinations of Iran and according to the statistics in the first seven months of the current year, the UAE has been the top trade partner of Iran in terms of imports but it slumped from the third to the fourth place in the top export destinations in terms of exports.
On how the country can increase its exports, he said that investment packages should be carried out in form of operational and they should display their capabilities. He also reiterated that the country should take advantage of opportunities for investment in other countries for increasing its exports.
Shakeri reiterated that exporters should seek exporting high quality products in the international scene and exporters and producers should be encouraged through incentives. He said unfortunately producers are focused on the domestic market and 80 percent of the products are for the domestic consumption and the policy-makers and planners have been less focused on the production capacity for exports.
He also criticized current forex policy in the country and said that the difference between the government rate of dollar (42,000 rials) with the free market rate (280,000 rials) is very high and it will affect the production and exports and said in the world such a big gap between official and free rate is unjustifiable and it will have considerable impact on the inflation rate and health system.
He reiterated that management and control of earmarking the subsidized forex is in hands of the state bodies and they should act wisely.
